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It's Fun to Play the Piano ... Please Pass It On!

Thanks, Carlos! That will go nicely with this nifty cumulative timer (which cost less when I bought mine... Amazon prices fluctuate). It's designed to cumulatively tally a child's reading time per day, but it's perfect for someone like me who practices over multiple shorter sessions per day.

(New year's resolution: to actually use it for piano! It rapidly got stolen away for other applications. Thus Carlos' time sheet to the rescue...)

@Stubbie good news!@Carlos I stopped being an consultant recently so my time with timesheets is over It ought to be fun @torquenale I'll probably get a Zoom as well but not an H4. I need something to do my first recording since the sound out of my videocamera is crap.

My achievements of the week are: Starting on the Wild Horse Rider from Schumann and improving the other two (Melody and Humming Song).

Edit: Although I started on the Wild Horse Rider I don't think I'll be able to play it in the correct tempo any time soon. Watched a couple of youtube video's which was a shock, wow, it's played FAST.

Thanks, Carlos! That will go nicely with this nifty cumulative timer (which cost less when I bought mine... Amazon prices fluctuate). It's designed to cumulatively tally a child's reading time per day, but it's perfect for someone like me who practices over multiple shorter sessions per day.

(New year's resolution: to actually use it for piano! It rapidly got stolen away for other applications. Thus Carlos' time sheet to the rescue...)

tangleweeds, if you have an android device you can install this Free Time Logger . It's free and works fine.

_________________________SoundCloud | YoutubeSelf-taught since Dec2009"Don't play what's there, play what's not there."

So much achievement already this week. Stubby I am happy for you. I changed teacher last year and it was the best thing I did. Good luck to you.

I'm writing this in an Indian restaurant on my way back from my Saturday noon lesson. Noon lesson makes me hungry. But it's nice she could stretch lesson time if we need to. Went over Bach prelude and Chopin nocturne fingerlings. I can play through both of them now with the books with hick ups here and there. She changed a couple of fingerlings but mostly agreed with my fingerlings. She had one suggestion on the dynamics but liked the way I emphasized some inner voices. Nocturne - she helped me fix awkward spots. Overall pretty good lesson. Earlier in the week I enjoyed Diabelli sonatine for four hands with my real life piano friend. I have never seen the score. I was happy that I was able to pull it through. It's not a difficult piece and I did not observe all the articulation but it made me feel so good. I couldn't have imagined this one year ago.

Week 95: I spend some time on review. I had a week off because of injury and a week off a month ago because of the funeral, so any progress is likely imagined. I listen to some of my old pieces. I revive a couple of them, fail at some others. Some are not worth reviving. I find too many pieces to squeeze into the 20% of time that I have allocated. It is distressing to pick, but some must be shelved.

I purchased and downloaded the sheet music for Colder Weather, a pop/country song by the Zac Brown band. I heard it on the TV show The Sing-Off. I make modest progress. I bought the guitar/vocal version because it was fewer pages (6 pages vs. 9 pages for the piano/vocal/guitar version). I don't like having so many pages, especially for a simple pop song. I am glad I did not try to sound it all out, because as I look at the melody line I would have taken a long time to get some of the notes. I find out that the band does it at an odd tuning, making it more difficult for folks trying to play it by ear. More likely, I would have worked on playing it by ear for a couple of weeks and given up in disgust.

As is usually the case, I want to do my own arrangement, so it is likely a long project. One reason I wanted the song is the title, Colder Weather. However, by the time I arrange it, learn it, polish it, it will almost certainly be spring.

I continue to polish up the instrumental that I was working on when my dad passed away. The title is Tracks in the Snow. My father had a December birthday. While the music doesn't have any direct story connection to him, the timing and the title gives some sense of connection. As always, it is hard to tell whether audiences will like it or not.

I have a Songmakers meeting in two more weeks. I plan on my originals: Tracks in the Snow, Wits End and Pachobel's Canon in D. If attendance is low, like it has been, I may need a couple of more pieces. It is a challenge to memorize so many. Between my nerves and my poor sight reading, the scores are not that useful to have during a live performance and sometimes make the nerves worse.

Well I awoke in the midst of a "whiteout" this morning, unable to navigate the driveway not to mention getting off to church (9 miles away). I have just had a wonderful practice session with Sorrento, my domain on which to Focus.

I once again have this piece under my fingers smoothly with both hands although not to the tempo I had it before, which, BTW wasn't all that great.

The weather guessers are predicting 8-12" (already 6") total snowfall today so I expect to make more progress on this later, since I won't be leaving the house.

The sorting out of my "piling system" is next, I have far too much music out and strung about to tempt me away from my focus. I will say, it is beautiful outside but not tempted to go out into it for sure. I'm staying in my jammies `till noon at least

I'm pleased with my AsOTW. My interview tomorrow is postponed until the roads are cleared, Worst storm here since 1983 so hoo nose how long that will take.

My AOTW is getting organized and building a piano roadmap for 2014. The FOYD thread has been so helpful, I decided to design a weekly practice sheet, to record goals and practice times for technical work, etudes, pieces with deadlines, repertoire to practice, and sight-reading. I have enough pieces on the go that it helps to have a guide to make my practice time more efficient. So far I am finding the worksheet very helpful to organize my time and improve my focus. Hopefully I am getting better at practicing!

My weekly report. It's been an exciting week for me musically. Cracked the can can on the head and started working on chiapanecas which I really really like the sound of. A lot of my time this week though has been spent recording, first recording onto the Yamaha p105, then transferring to zoom r8, then transferring to laptop, then to smartphone then to soundcloud my username on soundcloud is 'Paul Hodges 2' don't know the url . I live near Cambridge, UK btw. Thanks for comments am trying to post video but don't Have broadband here in caravan haha.

Your Can Can was very lively paul1971 so well done. Co-incidentally it was a year ago this month I was struggling with this very piece (albeit a different version). I had a great year despite finding it tough so who knows where you will be this time next year.

_________________________
If this life is a simulation can I not be in the easy version where Bach was a drummer

Swiss MS, I used the practice log idea last year and it helped me see the big picture of my practice. I'm beginning 2014 with a list of 10 pieces of repertoire (all pieces I've played for some workshop or recital in the past) and bringing them back to playing form. I have friends who "want to hear" me play and I've never felt I have something ready at any moment. My achievement this week is just relaxing into the music.

SwissMS and WiseBuff,I too think practice log is a good idea. I just started it last week. Mine is not electronic. It's a notebook. I write down my practice goal for each each piece for each day at the beginning of the week. I pencil in "check" mark as I complete a goal. I revise the goal if I have to. I also write questions to my teacher as well. It's working very well. At least it gives me a sense of accomplishment. I also need to maintain repartore too! I don't have time to do it until May though (sigh).

Well, after several days of feeling beyond frustrated with my (lack of ) progress on my Sonatina, and generally getting fed up with myself and the fact that I have not maintained ANY repertoire over the past year......

I picked out about a number of pieces that I really should have been maintaining and played through all of them. Just once each - but what was very reassuring is that for the most part they went reasonably smoothly in terms of getting the fingerings right and the notes too - though I was not playing to speed, just "refreshing my memory" so to speak.

I've decided to work on them in cycles and get them all in decent shape. I think I'll make a more concrete plan and then set myself up in FOYD

So that's an accomplishment.

After working through the pieces I want to (more than just ) brush up, I tried my Sonatina again and didn't feel quite so dismal about it. That's quite an accomplishment given where I was 48 hours ago....feeling like I should just throw in the towel (I'm sure many of you recognize those feelings....they don't last but they can mess with your mind and heart when they hit....)

So... I'm through my first piano crisis of 2014...I suppose that's an accomplishment of a sort too.

_________________________ ABF Recitals 18-44Another thing you learn along the way is that the music will still be there when you are ready for it. There's no reason to rush. JimF

"I've decided to work on them in cycles and get them all in decent shape. " - CasinitalyI've a kind of "script" with the pieces I've learned so far. I have them in groups of 3, 4, or 5 pieces - depending on the "flow" and "type" of each one -, and I play one or more groups regularly. It works for me.

_________________________SoundCloud | YoutubeSelf-taught since Dec2009"Don't play what's there, play what's not there."

….So... I'm through my first piano crisis of 2014...I suppose that's an accomplishment of a sort too.

Yep, that is an accomplishment. Building a plan for your repertoire and successfully working through a piece that is not cooperating is a great start for 2014! We are looking forward to you joining us on FOYD!

Cheryl, I sometimes had the same feeling, I did not maintain anything; when I wanted to play something...I had only mid-cooked pieces.Then a couple of months ago I put old pieces in my practice log, where everyday I write a cross in the the rows of the pieces I have practiced; so it's easy to see which ones I neglect for too much time. I rescued some pieces I like and now my goal is to play each of them once a week.And any new piece that gets a pass from the teacher goes in the repertoire list with the other oldies; now there are less than 10 very short pieces, nevertheless the memorized ones are difficult to maintain.

My AOTW: I survived Christmas holidays, tomorrow I'll be back to normal life.During this two weeks I practiced more than usual, averaging more that 1 hour per day, and it's been all quality time, meaning that I practiced on my acoustic without being tired. Quite a difference!

FarmGirl - what a history of birthdays you have! I suggest that you organize for an at-home special dinner - find a student at a cooking school and have someone come in and cook for you! We never go to restaurants here at NY it is just off the charts costly! I'm always happy to hear how much happier you are this past year with the new teacher - it seems piano has become a different (and better) experience for you)

Eddyakmow- that sounds like a sublime experience!

Stubbie: congratulations! Let us know how it unfolds!

Wimpiano - I think you are developing a fondness for Schumman! Will we hear one of your pieces in the February ABF recital?

CarlosCC: It will be really something to see the film! And thanks for the log pdf file. I don't know if I am structured enough to use it,... but it is worth a try!

Sand Tiger, your time off may not mean your progress is "imagined" - sometimes after a break things settle in the mind and it does help. At least that's what I've heard others say.

RagDoll - be careful with the snow and ice! It's a long time since I've had to deal with that but it's something you just don't forget. Good luck organizing your focus work!

SwissMS- I think it is quite amazing you've got a plan for the whole year! Brava! Such a focused approach is bound to help make a difference.

Wisebuff: relaxing into the music - isn't that wonderful? It happens far too rarely for me, but when it does, it is bliss!

Ron- I don't envy you your weather!Paul - sounds like you're having a great time - a rousing chorus of the can can is an interesting way to start the day! Bravo.

Carlos - I like the idea of grouping the pieces I want to refresh. Thanks for the idea.TallGuy and SwissMS, thanks for cheering and encouraging me to FOYD. (oh, a new verb! lol)

Torquenale: your technique combined with Carlos's grouping should work out well. Thanks for that tip too! As much as I don't like to hear others are having any difficulties, it is reassuring to know I'm not alone with this problem. I'm determined to sort it out!I practiced more than usual the past 2 weeks too - but mostly with the headphones as the neighbours were home downstairs and I couldn't deal with the feeling that they'd be listening and getting bent out of shape. Today I'm back to as much as I can with the acoustic. I'm also not going to make any further adjustments to my playing time for the kid downstairs. I've cut back MORE than a reasonable amount. So there.

Oongawa - that is really a very sweet accomplishment!

_________________________ ABF Recitals 18-44Another thing you learn along the way is that the music will still be there when you are ready for it. There's no reason to rush. JimF

@casinitaly Hope you get past your crisis, luckily you have a whole year in front of you.About the Schumann pieces (It's the Album for the Young) I really love it. However just yesterday my teacher has asked me to wait playing these pieces till we're a little further. (I play them next to my lesson material). I didn't play them for him but he's afraid that if I don't do the dynamics right I'll learn them wrong and it seems to be quite hard to get rid of piece learned in the wrong way. Just have to be a little patient and make sure I make a lot of progress so that I have to be less patient.

I might try one for the February ABF recital though (secretly ;)), is there a link to The February ABF recital? I thought the Tchaikovsky one in April was the first in the near future.

@Oongawa, that is REALLY nice. Good setup as well with the piano facing the room.My 6 weeks old daughter is already accustomed to us playing and our three year old son has his preference as to what we should play

I keep the 4-5 pieces I aim to revive or maintain on the music desk at all times, usually hidden behind some current assignment. Start of my piano-week (Wednesday) practice session I pull the top one out and play it once through only. That is piece of the week, gets one play at start of every practice. It goes to the back of the group when the week is over. On the weekend I also have to find time to play through each of the others just once. I hope to improve these pieces as well as maintain them, so will try to play them quite thoughtfully each day.

So far it seems to be working well.

Don't despair on the Sonatina.....you know it will turn around. Do what you can to depressurize it in your mind....at least that often gets me unstuck.

Wimpiano - your teacher is right that "un-Learning" is hard to do....I've had to do it and (read more below) will be doing it again!

For the February recital (and all the ABF quarterly recitals) a thread opens up on the 1st of the month for submissions. There is a 2 week period during which you can upload your file, and then the recital is open to the public on the 15th of the month (Feb, May, August, November).

Generally 1 month before the recital a "one month to recital" thread is started up and folks chat about their situations and where they are at with the whole procedure, often asking for tips on uploading or recording.

Jim - thanks for your encouragement - and the idea. As my pieces are in different books I'm considering making a copy and creating a little folder of just the "to be recovered" pieces and then trying your suggestion. I think what I'll have to do though is to do some focus work on each piece AND play it through. Not for all of them but for a good number.

I played through a set yesterday and was reasonably pleased at how it went.

I had my first lesson of the year where I was to play the whole sonatina from start to end. I butchered the first movement and did well on the second and third. After the first few flubs the majority of the mess was, to a large extent, a problem of nerves. However, in discussing it with my teacher he feels that what happened was that I studied better when I worked on the second and third movements and I never really did the right focus on the first. He said he could see I'd been working and he could see that my hands really knew where to go in 2 and 3 but in 1 there were still too many hesitations.....So.... this week's focus is to study those rough spots as though I were just starting the piece and really get the necessary confidence and security I've not had a proper handle on. I think he probably would have realized this earlier but we've had almost a month of no lessons....:(

The positive sides of this are:1. I didn't have a melt down when it went badly. (I know my face got very red, but I didn't feel as horrendously upset as I have in the past, this is REAL progress!)2. I did keep going 95% of the time, even when it was going very badly3. He assures me that he is certain I can play this piece and though it will be a little tricky to re-learn the wobbly parts, he knows I can do it. (he also gave me very concrete examples on HOW to do this!)

From feeling very discouraged, I'm feeling motivated.

_________________________ ABF Recitals 18-44Another thing you learn along the way is that the music will still be there when you are ready for it. There's no reason to rush. JimF

Cheryl, not being "horrendously upset" is a HUGE accomplishment and step forward. Good for you. There is so much brain training that goes into this endeavor.

Wimpiano...the Schumann pieces are fun. I'm reviving Reverie from years ago and using Melody to fine tune finger position and gain speed. Wild Rider just because.

So glad to see many of us are building and polishing a repertoire. Just once though I wish to be satisfied with that first time I play it. My critical side is so busy noting the errors that it is hard not to stop and fix it. LOL. I've worked on segments for the last few years and now I want to build stamina to keep playing for longer periods of time without stopping to study a spot.

To have your teenager enjoying your music is a statement of love and appreciation. Nice.

So... I'm through my first piano crisis of 2014...I suppose that's an accomplishment of a sort too.

Glad to hear that Cas. I know the "throw in the towel" feeling myself at times and it certainly can mess with your mind. Feeling like something is never ever going to come together. Then suddenly one day it's there or at least in sight.

RagDoll - be careful with the snow and ice! It's a long time since I've had to deal with that but it's something you just don't forget. Good luck organizing your focus work!

Thanks cas, it's pretty awful here truly. Drifts 3-4' and bitterly cold winds. Have heard of several folks dying out in it. So sad. The roads are passable now but just barely, still haven't been plowed except for major ones.

Yah, I am determined to better organize my books and practice and maintain my practice log. I tend to ignore it for days sometimes and then can't remember what I played/practiced. I do play each day but fail to always document it! AFA my books and sheets I have put some away that were bought impulsively, a real fault of mine. Heh!

I'm also not going to make any further adjustments to my playing time for the kid downstairs. I've cut back MORE than a reasonable amount. So there.

Good! Unless she's studying to be a monk of some sort, it would do her some good to get accustomed to a work environment with some distractions. If she is studying to be a monk of some sort, all the more reason that she should learn some forbearance regarding your life priorities.

_________________________
"...when you do practice properly, it seems to take no time at all. Just do it right five times or so, and then stop." -- JimF

I'm also not going to make any further adjustments to my playing time for the kid downstairs. I've cut back MORE than a reasonable amount. So there.

Good! Unless she's studying to be a monk of some sort, it would do her some good to get accustomed to a work environment with some distractions. If she is studying to be a monk of some sort, all the more reason that she should learn some forbearance regarding your life priorities.

Well, so far so good.... I've been playing twice a day with no responses from below.

Wisebuff and Ragdoll - thanks for cheering me on!

When I finished playing tonight I felt GREAT. I knew I was missing my acoustic but I had not truly realized just how much. I felt so much cheerier!

I have also been very VERY focused on unlearning - or re-Learning, I'm not sure what to call it ! - the parts I've been fumbling with. I'm pleased to say that even after only 4 (ok, 4 intense) sessions I am seeing an improvement. By my next lesson I think things will much smoother indeed!

_________________________ ABF Recitals 18-44Another thing you learn along the way is that the music will still be there when you are ready for it. There's no reason to rush. JimF